The present invention relates to a disc brake arrangement for a vehicle wheel, comprising a bracket member designed to be mounted on a vehicle member, relative to which the wheel is rotatably mounted, a brake caliper member and means for positioning the brake caliper member relative to the bracket member.
This brake caliper member can be the support for a brake caliper of floating (sliding) type, which is movably mounted in the support. When the piston means press against the brake lining on one side of the brake disc, the brake caliper is displaced by the reactive force relative to the support so that the caliper arm is pressed against the brake lining adjacent the opposite side of the brake disc. When the brake disc is mounted on a wheel axle, the support is normally lifted manually into place without any particular aids and is fixed by means of bolts to a fixed vehicle part, e.g. a so-called adapter plate, which is solidly mounted around the wheel hub. In doing this, the installer must hold the caliper so that its bolt holes coincide with the corresponding bolt holes in the adapter plate, and hold up the caliper at least until the first two bolts are inserted into place. Then they function as means for positioning the brake caliper member relative to the adapter plate, so that the installer does not need to hold the caliper when the other bolts are screwed into place. The installation of the fixed portion of a floating type brake caliper for a passenger car can be done without any problems, since the brake caliper is relatively light and thus can be aligned and supported with one hand while the bolts are inserted into the bolt holes with the other hand.
The support for a sliding (floating) brake caliper for a heavy truck is, however, large and heavy. The weight makes it very difficult for a single installer to both align the bolt holes of the brake caliper with the holes in the adapter plate and to hold the caliper in this position while at least the first two bolts are inserted into their holes.